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Egyptian interior

Maker

(artist)
1805-1876

Title

Egyptian interior

Date of Production

1841-1851

Medium

graphite, black and white chalk, pen and brown ink, watercolour and bodycolour on heavy brown wove paper

Dimensions

Height: 25.4 cm
Width: 37.3 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.3550

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

The English painter John Frederick Lewis lived in Cairo between 1841 and 1851. This work meticulously details a domestic interior, its unfinished quality suggesting a scene rapidly captured from life. Upon Lewis’s return to London, sketches like these served as models for some of his most famous paintings of harems (women’s quarters). It serves as a reminder of the common artistic practice of incorporating ‘real’ backdrops into imagined scenes.

Provenance

E. Kersley, London (active 1930-1960); purchased from him by Colnaghi (London), 2 May 1944; purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b (verso, lower right), 6 May 1944 (£8); Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

Drawing on Arabian Nights, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 22/02/2023-04/06/2023

J.F. Lewis R.A. (1805-1876) - Painter of the Desert and Harem, Guildford, 1977

Literature

J.F. Lewis, R.A. (1805-1876): painter of the desert and harem, Guildford House Gallery, 1977
no. 103

Blunt, Anthony, Hand-list of the drawings in the Witt Collection, London, 1956
p. 33

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: none.

Inscription: Verso: upper centre edge, graphite, cut off at the '0': "190".

Collector's mark: Verso: lower right corner, stamped in black: Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).

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